Yellow Tang Help!!

corey.nolta · May 17, 2016

I have a yellow tang that I have had for a year and this past week or so he hasn't been eating. He has gotten stuck to the power head twice. It is very apparent he is malnourished as his stomach is sucked in. The tank is fed once a day. I'm not sure what happened as to why he quit eating.

I moved him down to the fuge and with the low flow he is still getting blown around. He is barely moving. His breathing doesn't seem labored though.

What do I do? Leave him blowing around / getting stuck or do I put him the in the freezer and put him down?

I'm bummed as it was my first salt water fish

briancarterkc · May 17, 2016

Oh no! Is there anything about his body other than the tiny tummy? Spots? Cloudy eyes? Red gills? Erosion along his head or back?

corey.nolta · May 17, 2016

Nope. Nothing. No spots. No fuzz. Eyes are crystal clear and still dart around. Other than his sunken stomach he looks as bright and vibrant as ever. I tried feeding again and he didn't eat. The current is keeping him pressed against the rock in the fuge. And there isn't even that much current in the fuge.

jsker · May 17, 2016

briancarterkc said:
Oh no! Is there anything about his body other than the tiny tummy? Spots? Cloudy eyes? Red gills? Erosion along his head or back?

Good questions. Also any change to the Enviroment in the past two weeks?

zoomonster · May 17, 2016

If otherwise healthy appearance on outside maybe some sort of internal parasite and could treat with food soaked in prazipro . Probably not much good if he has already stopped eating and probably needs a quarantine tank with prazipro in the water. I have to ask has he been getting get enough to eat of the right stuff? Is there anything growing in the tank he can graze on and/or are you feeding him nori sheets everyday to graze on? IME tangs are pigs and need a lot to eat of the right sort. All my fish get fed at least 3 times a day and the tangs/angels get nori and sometimes other veggie foods.

I wouldn't put him down though. I've had tangs get sick and just recover. Worst case he dies and then you pull him out.

azreef · May 17, 2016

How often do you feed him Nori ? I think this is one thing that is a must to maintain a tang long term is plenty of nori. You can feed him several times a day and have him eat like a pig but that is sometimes not enough if he's not getting the proper nutrition that he needs. All my tangs get Nori everyday and I alternate between red, purple and green.

briancarterkc · May 17, 2016

More questions...along the lines of jsker's...
Any new livestock in the last month?
Any other fish in the tank? If so, how are they doing?
What are you feeding? Have you fed plants lately (e.g., nori?)
Have you done a full water test including temp and SG? Params?

corey.nolta · May 17, 2016

No changes in environment either to my knowledge. Haven't had any new additions in the past month either.

As far as eating goes, the tank is feed once a day a good amount. I put half a sheet of nori as well as LRS reef frenzy. Both are feed every morning.

All other fish seem to be doing well.

Can get water Params in the morning

briancarterkc · May 18, 2016

Man, I don't have any good suggestions. As zoomonster said, with nothing external, there's not a lot to go on.

You might want to post this in the Disease sub-forum of the saltwater fish forum here on R2R. There's some good experts over there.

Cory · May 18, 2016

This happened to a tang of mine long ago.

I would capture the fish and feed it in a slow movement environment.

Unfortunately mine didnt make it. And i never knew the cause.

corey.nolta · May 18, 2016

He didn't make it through the night.

Pulled him out this morning and looked him over. Absolutely no outward signs of any type of trauma /disease that I could see. Just a sunken stomach.
Everyone else seems to be doing just fine as always. All look fat and healthy. Bummer, he was my first saltwater fish purchase!

I did test parameters this morning and nothing is out of whack. Nitrates and Phosphates are elevated, but that's nothing new for my tank as I have always battled them regardless what what I do. (I've tried weekly 15% w/c, daily 5 gallon w/c, once a month w/c, vodka dosing--nothing has really worked, and the RO water has been tested separately and reads 0. Both from storage unit and directly from RO unit)

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
Phosphate - .25
Calcium - 460
dKH - 8
SG - 1.026
PH - 8
Temp - ~74
Didn't have enough left to test Magnesium, but on average it runs around the 1400 mark.

90 gallon displat w/ 40 gallon sump w/fuge
Reef octopus 150

briancarterkc · May 19, 2016

Your temp is a bit on the cool side but I wouldn't have expected that to contribute to this. I'm sorry to hear he didn't make it

Naiad · May 19, 2016

Sorry for your loss. He may have had a internal disease or organ failure. Nothing could be done as it didnt present until it was too late. Do keep an eye out on other fish for signs in case it was a parasite or infection that caused it.

@ Humblefish you ever encountered this before?